The controversial 'India Shining Campaign' of the Indian government found a supporter from an unexpected ally -- a Chinese business weekly.
"India now basks in the most 'shining era' in the 56 years since it became independent from Britain," the state-run China Business Weekly said in its latest issue which focussed on India's recent rise as an emerging economic power.
The Indian economy never had it so good in recent history -- benefiting from a good monsoon, gross domestic product growth projections at 8 per cent and foreign exchange reserves at $100 billion plus, it said.
The country experienced moderate inflation, rising corporate sales and profits and consumers spending like never before with housing, car and higher education loans cheaper than any time in living memory, the article 'India: A Blockbuster in the making' noted.
"Has the Indian economy ever had it so good? By these parameters, never," Sun Peijun, professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said.
"India is truly on the fast development track," Sun, also president of Chinese Association of South Asian Studies, said.
His views were supported by W Anthony Stewart, with Jones Day, a Dallas, Texas-based international law firm, who said that India will continue to grow at a faster pace over the next several years.
Despite different opinions on the causes of India's economic rise, one consensus among experts here is that the economic success is a direct result of reforms that was initiated in 1991.
"The Indian people, like the Chinese people, have always been talented, hardworking and creative. But this has not always resulted in material progress," Stewart, who practised law for eight years in Hong Kong and understood the legal structures of both India and China, said.
"In India, I think the improvement is a result of finally weakening the 'license raj' that stifled most progress," Stewart said.
"Perhaps the change is similar to (the late Chinese leader) Deng Xiaoping's role in promoting the socialist market economy in China," he said.
Before the reform, the 'license raj' system had held back talented people for generations, he said.
Hua Biyun, professor with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations commented that the long-buoyant private sector is a major driving force behind India's economic take-off.
Conglomerates like Tata and Reliance play a significant role in driving the Indian economy, Hua said, adding there was no similar example in China.
